Ramen Nagi

We finally got to try Ramen Nagi which is hailed as the best tasting ramen in Manila. Popularly known as Butao in Hong Kong, this award winning establishment finally opened in Manila early this year and now has two branches in SM Aura and SM Mall of Asia. We visited their branch in SM Aura with Kim's friends.

The restaurant's interior is best described as an updated ramen bar with the usual wood furnishing and colorful and quirky displays on the walls and above each table. As with most ramen bars, you can't rearrange the tables and chairs to your preference. So that means you might have to dine and rub elbows (figuratively and literally) with someone you don't know which might be an issue to some. But with ramen this good, you probably won't mind.

They only serve ramen here. There are no rice meals, no gyozas, no dumplings. To order, they give you this sheet of paper called the Omotenashi Sheet where you can specify your ramen to your liking. There are 5 kinds of ramen that they serve: Butao, Black King, Red King, Green King and the Limited King which varies from time to time. During our visit, the Limited King was Ebi King. First, you need to select your ramen. Then, you tick off the following items on how you'd want your ramen to be.


You can see how we ordered ours:

Kim ordered the Limited King, which is the Ebi King. 410php.

Kim selected the pork belly to go with her rich soup base along with green onions. She had her noodles Extra Hard (some people might get the wrong idea of having "hard noodles," but this was just really firm in texture). She also had an extra order of Tamago or boiled egg (50php). Since this was our first time in Ramen Nagi, she just got the level 1 Spicy of the firesauce as suggested. Kim loved this since she loves shrimps, and this had a real, nice shrimpy flavor and aroma. The serving was a little much more than she could handle though.


I ordered the Black King. 410php.

Black King ramen gets it flavor from garlic and squid ink, which explains the black soup. This might not look like the prettiest thing to eat but it was really good. I liked how the subtle garlic flavor provided a nice kick to every spoonful. But since I had my soup base just Normal, it might vary for those who'd want a rich garlic flavor to their Black King. And just like Kim, I also ordered Tamago for my ramen.

We're not really ramen experts, and we haven't eaten a wide range of ramen in different ramen bars to say that this was the best we've had. But both bowls we ordered were really good! Although it's a little pricey, most ramen places are pricey anyway. We were a little surprised that's there no other menu item aside from the ramen, because we usually order gyoza or some chicken karaage to go with our bowls.

We suggest that for those who plan on visiting Ramen Nagi to arrive earlier than normal dining hours (lunch and dinner), as lines can get crazy. And no, they don't take any reservations. Also, make sure to mix your soup before eating to completely mix the firesauce with the soup base. I found this out the hard way as I took a spoonful of firesauce.

Ramen Nagi
5th Floor SM Aura Premier
McKinley Parkway, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
https://www.facebook.com/RamenNagiManila

Jollibee Cheesy Bacon Mushroom Champ

October 19, 2013. Saturday.

Jollibee recently launched the Cheesy Bacon Mushroom Champ. This is in line with the soon to release in cinemas Thor 2: Dark World movie. Now, I don't think we've made a post featuring a fast food chain before. But this was just too good not to blog about.

*Again, we apologize for forgetting to take a picture of the signage. But hey, you know Jollibee's logo by heart! :D

I love the regular Champ. It has maintained its quality throughout the years and several price increases, which I can't say about its direct competitors from the other food chains. So how can you improve an already great burger to being with? Put it in a Thor themed packaging? Well that makes for novelty. But it's really simple. Just put melted cheese, bacon and mushroom in it!

Non-veggies would certainly love this incarnation of the Champ, as it maintains the same juicy 1/3 pound patty and replaces the lettuce and tomato with cheese sauce, bacon and mushroom! It's certainly not cheap for a burger from a local joint, as it's priced at 129php ala carte and 165php for a value meal, but who cares! It's a 1/3 pound patty, melted cheese, bacon and mushroom in one awesome package!

And keeping up with the Thor theme, every purchase of the Cheesy Bacon Mushroom Champ (ala carte or value meal) entitles you to buy Thor's Mjolnir for 95php! Mjo- what you say? It's Thor's hammer! It's not the real article, but instead a miniature that houses a 1G USB inside. A 1G USB is kind of obsolete today but for just 95php it's a good deal. And it does work, as my brother already used it to copy files.

I'm not sure if this will be a regular menu item or just a special burger for their Thor promotion. Better not wait and see! Get to the nearest Jollibee and try out the Cheesy Bacon Mushroom Champ for yourself!

Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen

August 10, 2013. Saturday.

Aside from the recent influx of Katsu places in the country, Ramen restaurants have also been popping up left and right. Kim and I have always made plans to try one but has never gotten to doing it (until this entry). It's ironic that it took us this long since we're practically around Eastwood all the time and there's a Ramen Bar there.

We only recently explored SM Aura, and we love how uncrowded it is! We've been there 2 weekends straight. The first time we ate at Yabu and the next time.. yup, you guessed it right, we ate at a Ramen place (the title is kinda a dead giveaway)! Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen to be exact.

Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen is a mouthful to say and a lot to type, so we'll just refer to it as IFR from this point on. IFR in SM Aura is the Japanese import's 2nd branch in the country; the first is in Shangri- la. We saw how long the lines were during dinner time the previous time we passed by it, so we made it a point to get early dinner. Well, we were early but no tables were vacant  and we ended up sitting at the bar instead. Not a big deal though, it adds to the experience I guess. We could say we ate ramen at a bar, but not at Ramen Bar. Haha.

We first ordered Gyoza.

Gyoza. 150php.

Gyoza is basically a dumpling. The fillings usually vary from restaurant to restaurant but its usually a combination of some ground meat and vegetables. We liked this one because it was lightly toasted and crisp on the outside. It came with some sort of soy- vinegar sauce which was slightly sweet.

Kim ordered the Ajitama Tonkotsu.

Ajitama Tonkotsu. 330php.

The Ajitama Tonkotsu is IFR's best selling ramen. It comes with chashu (pork), ajitama (slow boiled egg), green onion, bamboo shoots, wood ear, and dried seaweed. Tonkotsu is made from boiling pork over a long period of time. It is usually fatty and creamy. IFR's Ajitama Tonkotsu was creamy but not as creamy as we expected it to be. But aside from that, it was great and really filling!

I went for their Black Garlic Tonkotsu.

Black Garlic Tonkotsu. 380php.

This had a really strong garlic aroma and flavor.. which I really loved! It's almost the same as Kim's order except without the egg and it had that special garlic oil in it.

Most Filipinos would still prefer their rice meals for their dinner (Kim and I included). But if you're feeling a bit adventurous, a bowl of ramen is just as filling and just as good. It's not that cheap especially when you think that you're just getting a slice of pork, noodles and broth, but once you've considered the way it's been cooked (slow boiling, hand pulled noodles) then it's all worth it. We definitely enjoyed eating at Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen, and would consider trying out their other ramens as well.

On a sidenote, you get to choose how to get your noodles done. We had both our orders hard for that al dente firmness.

Ikkoryu Fukuoka Ramen
Level 2, SM Aura Premier
McKinley Parkway, Taguig